Meet Caiden

CAIDEN’S STORY

In November 2023 we found out I was pregnant with my first baby, it was unplanned, but my finance Nick and I were both extremely excited. I went in for my 20-week anatomy scan and the ultrasound technician remained silent, she sent us to my OB/GYN’s office to review the scan - it was then we knew something was very wrong. He explained to me that my baby was diagnosed with CDH and that I needed seek additional opinions as my pregnancy was now considered “complicated”. A three-hour ultrasound and two hospitals later we were told our baby had 50% chance at life given the severity of his hernia, extremely distraught would be a dramatic understatement.

Eventually we wound up at the University of Michigan C.S Mott Children’s Hospital. During our initial care planning given the position of Caiden’s liver and size of his lungs, they recommended the possibility of undergoing a procedure dubbed FETO. During this procedure they insert a balloon into Caiden’s trachea while in utero, theoretically allowing the lungs space to grow at an accelerated rate. At the time, I was only the third patient to undergo this procedure at the University of Michigan, which ended up being quite successful – for four weeks the balloon remained, allowing his lungs the time and space they needed to develop.

Born June 25th, 2024, Caiden was sent straight to the NICU, intubated and all. There were plenty of ups and downs with his pulmonary hypertension, taking to the ventilators (he required a couple different ones) acid reflux, feeding and so forth. After four months in the NICU we discovered Caiden needed a tracheostomy and a ventilator. This is where his dad and I had a “Holy S***!” moment, we knew taking care of Caiden was never going to be a walk in the park but now it was time to dramatically alter our life for this amazing little fighter boy. We had a lot of ups and downs in the NICU - this boy is TOUGH - but we accepted we were moving at his pace. Nick and I trained and learned daily while watching over him everything about how to take care of his trach, learning the ventilator, training on his feeds, etc. After 8 months, Caiden was released – we finally got to bring our baby boy home! 

As told to Fore Hadley by Taylor Taucher aka “Mom”

About the Fore Hadley Angels in the NICU Fund

Support and proceeds for the Fore Hadley Angels in the NICU Fund will go towards assisting current and future families like Clare’s, by providing financial contributions to assist families with the costs associated with extended, long distance travel and living arrangements. Costs that are often a must to ensure the proper specialty care for CDH babies.